Leave The Money At My Grave
by Spongewolf
Summary: After the sudden death of Tom Nook, Town wonders who will take over Nookington's. When four animals nominate themselves to run the store, will Town make the right choice? And will Sydney notice if they do? Rated T just in case. Updated 11-24-2012! (yes, that recently!)
1. Prologue

I trudged through the muddy grass. It was another stormy night in Town, the town I happened to reside in. The news channel reported that for five days straight, the weather would stay this depressing. I found that.. well, you know, _depressing_.

It was so dark, I couldn't necessarily find my way back to my own house. I left the lights off, after all. My pink sandals were coated with mud, and my bubblegum shirt was slowly getting stained with raindrops. My green leaf umbrella was about to give out from the force of the rain, as the sky was continuously pelting it with its unforgiving tears. In this case, I felt as if the sky was crying over something, though I wasn't sure what. From what I knew, it could have been anything, but nights this bad normally meant something.

And at that moment, my green leaf umbrella gave in to the force of the rain, and a hole tore into the umbrella, allowing the rain to completely soak my purple fur. I threw my now useless umbrella to the ground and sat under a shady tree for protection, and though a few drops of rain would hit my head, I was a lot drier than I was out in the rain. What on Earth was I to do? I'd be even more drenched if went out in the rain, since I couldn't even find my house. My sense of direction has been failing me lately.

"Sydney?" I heard a familiar voice call out. I stood up and looked around to see where the voice came from. It was from Tom Fernando, a blue and white cat that so happened to be my best friend. He looked extremely dry compared to me: Oh, no wonder. _HE_ had an umbrella.

"Sydney, why are you out in this weather?" he asked me. I found it cute how worried he got over me. It was so out of character for him, in my opinion.

"I couldn't find my house, and it's raining so hard my flimsy umbrella couldn't take it." I pointed to my broken green leaf umbrella, which was out in the rain, laying in the grass.

Tom looked at me, noticing that I was soaking wet. "I can believe that," he laughed. He took my hand and helped me, holding the umbrella under both of us. "Did you get lost again?"

I blushed. That was what most people said to me, but Tom wasn't too bright. It made me wonder why he said that so confidently, when he probably would've gotten lost in the rain, too. "It's so misty outside that I couldn't find my way home."

"Yeah, I could see that. I know where your house is." Tom took my clammy paw in his, and jumped a little at how cold it was. "Let me walk you home."

I slowly walked with Tom under the protection of his black umbrella. It wasn't long before we came across my front door. "Thanks," I smiled, running through the rain to get to my front door. I twisted the doorknob open and stepped inside.

"Hey, Sydney!" Melba Coffey, my younger sister greeted. She was indoors all day, so her creamy brown fur was dry. 

My clothes and fur were both dripping from the rain, so I stepped into the bathroom and grabbed a white, dry towel out of the laundry basket. I rubbed my face with the towel and looked at my now-dry furry face in the mirror. Of course, I was still drenched everywhere else, but I just got home and wanted to rest. Wrapping the towel around my body, I walked back into the living room to see Melba look straight at me.

"Hey, Syd!" she said. "Come look, Nook and some rabbit girl are on the news."

"Rabbit girl?" I asked.

"Yeah. She's not a resident here."

I sat down on the couch next to my sister. The TV was on the news channel, reporting a recent car crash. There was indeed a "rabbit girl" on the scene, one with black fur and a surprised look on her face. She happened to be one of the victims of the car crash, but who else was in the car with her?

Medics pulled a second character out of the wrecked car. Oh no. Was that.. Tom Nook? And more importantly, was he _dead_?

The medics all looked at each other, then back at Tom Nook. Each and every one had attempted CPR without any luck. It was absolutely gut-wrenching to know that the un-thought of had come true: Tom Nook was proclaimed to be dead.

"Sydney," Melba whimpered. "What will become of Nookington's?"

"I'm not sure," I responded. "I think Timmy and Tommy are a bit too young to take over the business." Why were we focusing on the store? The main problem here was that Tom Nook was dead. We'd have to do something in his honor.

Tom walked into the house, even though he wasn't invited. He hung his umbrella on the hat rack, and didn't even bother to notice it fall to the ground. "Sydney," he began worriedly, "Are you watching the news?"

"Yeah," Sydney sighed. "Did you hear about Nook?"

Tom nodded his head in agreement. He took a seat on the couch, and allowed himself to take a bite out of the pepperoni pizza in the Domino's pizza box. Melba normally would have complained that the pizza was _hers_, but what had become of Nook was so important that she didn't stop him. Melba fidgeted with her hands. She felt so uneasy that she didn't know what to say.

"I say we do a funeral service for Nook," I suggested, reaching for a piece of pizza. I bit into the cheesy snack and cringed; it was a bit cold from sitting there, so Melba must have let it cool off from coming out of the oven and then forgotten about it.

"Thass wuh I was thinkinh!" Tom spoke with a mouth full of pizza, and popped the last bit of the crust into his mouth.

"When should we hold the service?" Melba asked, reaching for the dark brown blanket laying on the armrest of the couch.

"Two days from now, I guess. It's a bit late to tell everyone to wake up early for a funeral happening tomorrow." I looked at my feet, which were still wearing the muddy pink sandals. I kicked them off and continued to stare at my feet, which were now resting on the white carpeted living room floor.

"Maybe 8 in the morning would do," Tom applied, still chewing the crust he had popped into his mouth not too long ago. Melba and I agreed to the time, even though I _really _didn't like waking up early in the morning. But since it was for Tom Nook, it would just have to do.


	2. The Funeral

Once the dreadful day had finally come, I stepped into the church wearing a simple black design. There was an enormous amount of white balloons tied to the hat rack at the front door. A faded white sign hung from a flimsy rope on the hat rack, reading in painted black lettering: _PLEASE TAKE A BALLOON. _Before doing so, I looked around at the people in the pews. Each and every one of them had white balloons tied around their wrists.

Apparently this was supposed to fit into the theme of this, though I didn't authorize this idea in the first place. But, I still untied one of the balloons from the hat rack, and attempted tying it onto my wrist. However, judging by the people turning around in the pews to stare at me as I kept trying to tie the string to my wrist I wasn't really the best at tying things.

Soon enough, Tom was walking down the aisle, chuckling a bit at the hard time I was having. "Here, let me do it," he whispered to me. His furry white paws managed to securely tie the white balloon to my wrist in all of five seconds. I felt embarrassed about how stupid I must have looked trying to tie that blasted string.

"I came up with the idea of the balloons," Tom smiled, but only a tiny smile. After all, this _was _a funeral.. and that's not something you'd really smile about.

"I'm not sure what good balloons will do for this," I said.

Instead of explaining his 'plans' like he normally does, he simply responded "Come sit with me." His petite grin eventually faded, getting him back in character for the funeral. I followed him to the pew he was motioning towards and allowed myself to sit down, just to notice Tom walk up the aisle to announce the beginning of the funeral.

"Hello, thank you all for coming," Tom began. "We will be calling people up here to say a few words within a few minutes, and also, please turn off your cell phones or set the volume to 'silent'. Thanks." I could hear the pushing of buttons on cell phones as people turned them off. The pianist, a young, droopy-eared cat with lime green fur, was playing a sad song. She looked about eleven or twelve years old, but was very skilled for her age. But, judging by her emotionless facial expression, I guess playing the piano isn't one of her favorite hobbies. Or, maybe it's just because we were at a funeral.

Tom adjusted the microphone so he wouldn't have to stretch to speak through it. He was just about to speak when Melba came running into the church, panting. Every single person in the church turned around to look at her. I'm not sure if it was because Melba was late, or because the black bunny that was with Tom Nook at the car crash was standing right behind her.

I looked at the bunny girl, who stared blankly at everyone who stared back at her. She looked.. unaffected by all of this hubbub, yet she took a balloon and tied it to her wrist. Melba was about to mosey down the aisle until she realized everyone had balloons tied to their wrists, and hurriedly ran back to the hat rack to tie one onto her wrist. I felt embarrassed that even though my younger sister was tardy for many occasions, she was capable of tying a balloon to her wrist.

I heard someone walk into the pew I was sitting in, so assuming it was Melba, I didn't look to see who it was. But even from behind, I was getting some sort of mysterious vibe from this person, one I've never gotten from Melba. So I turned around..

And there was the bunny girl, staring right at me with a glint in her eye.

I winced, since I was so surprised. She didn't respond, she merely kneeled on the kneelers and prayed in silence. I sat on the cushiony pew nervously, when Melba grabbed my hand to take me to another pew. I thought it to be a bit rude leaving the bunny girl by herself, but she didn't notice until she made the sign on the cross and sat back onto the pew, noticing I was no longer there. She looked at me with the same expression she had before, then looked on, as if she didn't mind.

Tom waited for the droopy-eared, piano-playing cat to finish her song before he again adjusted the microphone to start the service. After reciting a prayer, he had called me up to say a few words on Tom Nook's behalf.

I nervously stepped up to the podium, for I had never said anything in a funeral before. In fact.. this was the first funeral I ever went to. "Um, hey guys," I stated, clearing my throat. "I-I'm Sydney."

I looked on in silence, thinking of something to say. I felt the stares of most of the people in the pews, since they were waiting for me to continue. I also noticed the people who weren't paying attention, until I realize I was in space. I shook my head and continued my speech.

"I didn't know Nook that well, but he was.. a great business man, I must say." I paused and nodded, assuming I was off to an adequate start. "I'm not sure anyone could be able to replace him. I mean, even if someone else would be running Nookington's, tell me, would it be the same?"

"I'd think not."

I nervously looked towards the direction of the response, which came from a brown-and-white-furred wolf with hooded eyes. "Surely I could be able to run Nookington's properly. I'm Akira. Akira Boston. Nice to meet you, uh.."

"Sydney," I responded. "And what on earth are you talking about?"

"She plans to run for the role for the role of store owner in this town," a white cat squeaked, stepping out of her pew. "I actually planned to run for the role, too," she added, adjusting the pink bow in her hair."

"Actually, I planned on GETTING the role." Akira gave the cat a smirk, which soon faded. "But we should leave this discussion until after the funeral."

I felt I had said all I could, even though that was very little. I sat down in my pew, and watched as more people- some I knew, some I didn't- stood up and talked about the times they had with Tom Nook when he was alive. Afterwards, Tom stood out of his pew and motioned everyone outside.

"Now we need to untie the balloons and release them to the heavens so Nook can see them." Tom began to untie the balloon at his wrist, while everyone else did the same. "You can let go-"

He paused when he noticed me having trouble untying my balloon string. He sighed and untied the knot in the string. I clutched the balloon in my hand.

"Okay, _now _you can let go of the balloons." Tom set the balloon in his hand free, as did everyone else. We all looked up towards the sky, watching until we couldn't see a single balloon left.


	3. Election Day

The next day, I was still surprised about how there was another thing I didn't know about. The balloon-theme I could let pass by, but an election for the new store owner? _Really?_

I could understand how this was important, though. After all, Nook was our only store owner who ran our town's only store, and his nephews were much too young to take on the responsibility. I looked at the candidates, who were all standing near the train station. There was Akira, the white cat I had seen yesterday, a black-and-white anteater, and strangely, Crazy Redd.

"..and I feel I would serve the community well." Akira had just finished her speech on her behalf. It's too bad I missed it.

The next person to speak was the anteater. He nervously stepped to the podium and adjusted the microphone so he could speak. "Hello, my name is Allen Mathis. I think I should be picked for this role because.."

I managed to tune Allen out for a big portion of his speech to find a place to sit down. I looked around for people I knew, but Tom was sitting with another friend having a discussion, and Melba was at home. I took a seat on a folding chair that appeared to be vacant.

"I have already been an employee at Nookington's," Allen added to a sentence I wasn't listening to, "so I think the job of store owner won't be a big hassle for me. I'd be honored to serve as the store owner here." Allen waved to the audience who, in turn, applauded. As I clapped, I heard an unfamiliar voice.

"You're in my chair," the voice dispassionately pointed out. I was about to snap at the wisenheimer when I looked up to see the same, emotionless bunny girl the day before, staring me right in the eyes.

"Sorry," I apologized, recoiling into the chair next to me. The bunny girl quietly took her seat and said nothing more. I looked on to see Allen sit back down onto a folding chair like the ones in the audience, and saw Crazy Redd stand behind the podium.

Redd coughed, preparing to speak. "Hey, everyone, you may all know me around these parts as Crazy Redd." He paused for emphasis, but because of his reputation as a con artist, the crowd was silent.

"So," he continued uneasily, "I know for a fact that I don't have too good of a rep here, but all that can change if you elect me store-owner! I know Nook and I weren't close, but I can still be a worthy choice, am I right..?"

I began to look around for the people in the audience, noticing the skeptical expressions on most of their faces as Redd continued attempting to reassure the people that he was finer than they all thought, but he apparently wasn't doing well. I noticed that there were only a few claps from some people in the audience when he waved and took a seat.

Finally, the white cat stood up. She flatted down the barely noticeable wrinkles on her frilly, yellow skirt. She then stood at the podium, positioned her pink bow atop her head, and grinned at the audience. "Hello!" she chimed. "My name is Melody Rocha, and I want to be the next owner of Nookington's!"

I noticed that some people in the audience who were once slumping sat up straight in their chairs, the people nodding off woke up in a split-second, and the one with once doubtful expressions began to crack a smile. Melody was off to a great start, according to the now-attentive audience.

"Nook and I used to be classmates," she informed. "We were very close. I remember just after college, when Nook had just opened a worn-out shack he called 'Nook's Cranny', and yet it managed to upgrade this much from all the wonderful support of his many customers. If I get picked to take on the mighty responsibility as store owner, I will not let any of you down!"

Melody continued to make pleasant guarantees and civil pledges until her speech ended with her saying, "Vote for me, Melody!" One by one, people stood up and clapped, and one person began to chant her name.

_Melody! Melody! _People slowly began to chant along, the speed of the chants increasing, until there was an uproar of her name in the entire area.

It was now blatant who Town was going to choose, but something managed to catch my eye. The bunny girl's expression had changed, and it was the first time I had noticed. It was a face of contempt, as if she seemed to disagree with all that was said. I understood that some people of course will think differently, but it was strange when she suddenly stood up and walked away from the area. I watched as she walked out, her paw placed on her forehead as if she were thinking.

Everyone stopping chanting, but the jubilation didn't end there. Everyone clapped, cheered, and whistled as Melody smiled, waved, and bowed to everyone in the audience. Redd rolled his eyes, Allen slumped in his chair, and Akira gave off a look in disbelief. Even though I wasn't really going to participate in the voting, I wondered if everyone had just made the best decision for Town or if they had not.


	4. A Visit to Nookington's

"Sydney! Syyyddddnneeeyyyyy!"

I woke up to see Melba's face looking back at mine. She had a grin the size of the sun.

"Get up, silly! I want you to come to Nookington's with me!" Melba shook me repetitively until I crawled out of my bed. The amount of sleep I had was limited, because Melody's lack of imperfections kept me awake. Most things come with a catch, but I wanted to be sure that Melody was who she said she was.

Melba crossed her arms and groaned as I slowly placed my blue knit hat on top of my head. I rubbed my eyes, only to be rushed by the ever-excited Melba who grabbed me by the arm and ran outside.

I couldn't help but remember the bad feeling I had about Melody. She was perfect. What worried me is that her being perfect could lead to awful suspicions. Melba looked back at me with a smile so peaceful, my suspicions started to fade. She urged me to walk with her to Nookington's, almost as if she were saying "Keep going. Nothing's wrong."

Step by step, we got closer to the store. I noticed that people I didn't recognize were walking inside the store.

"Look, Sydney!" my excited sister said to me, with her big brown eyes gleaming. "Even people from other towns are coming here to shop!"

I walked inside with Melba, and was surprised with what I found. Indeed, people from outside our town was browsing the shelves with intrigued looks. Melody spotted us in an instant and ran to us.

"Hello, Melba!" she greeted my sister. She then looked up at me. "You must be her sister, Sydney! It's a pleasure to meet you." She extended her hand, which I shook nervously. "I do hope you enjoy your time here," she continued, unaware of how unsettling it was to be near her with my suspicions.

"Tell my sister where to look for everything!" Melba insisted, obviously enjoying this.

"Of course!" Melody jeered, looking at me. She motioned me to follow her, which I did. She informed me that Harriet, the hairdresser, set up shop upstairs, and that furniture, tools, and other necessities could be found downstairs. Saplings and flowers could be found in the room where Shampoodle, Harriet's hair salon, once was.

By the time my tour was done, Melba had already had a handful of items in her arms.

"So you want to buy that?" I asked her.

"Actually.." she muttered anxiously, "I spent quite a bit of Bells here last time, so I was wondering if you could pay for this.

I shook my head, and gave the items for Melody to ring up at the cash register, which she did. "Your total is 6000 Bells."

Mouth agape, I, nonetheless, took out the amount of Bells asked and handed it to Melody, who gave Melba a plastic bag full of the items she- well, I- had purchased.

"Have a wonderful day!" Melody waved to us, and we went on our way outside of the store. For a few weeks, everything seemed positive, it was all great, and I lost every bit of suspicion I had.

Until that day.


	5. Trapped!

It was on that day that I had a pleasant rest for once. I sat up in my bed, arms outstretched, ready to enjoy a satisfying day in Town. I slid out of bed into my fluffy indigo slippers and walked out of my room.

"Knock knock!" I chimed, opening the door to Melba's room, only to see that she wasn't in there. Considering how late she always wakes up, this worried me deeply. I hurried down the hallway, in a frantic rush to search for Melba.. only to see she was nestled on the living room couch with a cup of hot chocolate in her hands.

"'Morning, Sydney." Melba sipped her steaming hot chocolate. It was strange how she could drink it without whining that her tongue was stinging.

"Thank goodness," I sighed, letting out a deep breath. "I didn't see you in your room." I noticed that Melba was dressed in normal clothes, rather than pajamas, and it made me want to go to Nookington's. So, of course, I'd have to get dressed, too.

Without telling Melba what I was doing, I ran to my room and quickly changed into a prism shirt. I grabbed my brown messenger back and headed for the door-

"-Where are you going?" Melba asked as I grabbed the doorknob.

"Nookington's." I grinned, and twisted the doorknob.

"It's a bit early to go right now, I'm sure they just opened." Melba took another delectable sip of her hot chocolate and looked at me incredulously.

I looked at the digital clock on the coffee table, which flashed "8:00 AM" right back at me. Nookington's _did _open at that time, but I decided on that day to start going there earlier. I waved goodbye to Melba and closed the door behind me.

"Mornin', Syd!" Tom jogged over to me with a smile on his face. "You going to Nookington's?"

"Yup." I beamed, and looked straight forward. "You wanna come with me?"

"Sure." Tom laughed and extended his hand. "After all, I think you'd need me to lead you there."

I looked at him with an unbelieving face, but I knew it was a joke. Well, even though I sort of forgot the route to Nookington's. I held out my hand, which he grasped lightly in his. I blushed slightly, and walked towards Nookington's, Tom leading the way.

The store was soon in clear eyesight as we trudged closer towards it. It was a bit bizarre how the lights weren't on in the building, considering the store was opened at 8 AM.

"It's 8:03." Tom looked onward, then back at his wristwatch. "So why are the lights out?"

"I was wondering that myself," I added, attempting to look into the dark windows of the department store.

Within a few more footsteps, we found ourselves standing in front of the building, the lights shut out. I stepped towards the automatic doors, which stood completely still.

"The door's not opening?" Tom looked at the doors, then leaped toward them. The doors still remained closed. "Dang it." 

I knocked on the automatic doors, to see if someone inside forgot to unlock the doors. "Hello?" I chimed. No response.

This was a peculiar happening indeed. Was the store closed today? I tapped my fist against the glass one last time, to no response. My paw slowly slid down the door and arrived back by my side as I pondered what on earth had happened here. And I was for certain that I didn't wake up early to a closed store.

Then, Tom began to pry the doors open with his own two paws. He looked at me, obviously having trouble. "Help me out," he stuttered.

I reconsidered desperately wanting to go inside, but I couldn't just let Tom stand there trying so hard just to open the doors, so I helped out(well, if you consider barely pushing the doors with my noodle arms helping.) But, surprisingly, the doors cracked open. We ran inside, eager to find Melody and to shop.

We couldn't believe our eyes. The store was dark. The shelves were empty; not a single tool or piece of stationary was to be found. We didn't expect much as we traveled up the carpeted stairs- and as we had guessed- there was nothing in the upstairs area. No furniture, carpets, paints, or wallpaper. _NOTHING._

_CLASH!_

Tom and I looked at each other, then ran down the stairs to see what the mysterious noise was. While Tom had made it to the bottom stair, I had tripped and slid down the stairs, onto the cold, hard floor. At first, I had thought that I misplaced my footing, but I was wrong. I had been tripped. I looked up, but the figure standing at the top of the staircase was too unclear for me to see.

We weren't the only ones in the store.

"Sydney!" Tom shouted to me. "The doors are practically glued shut! We can't get out!" He halted, noticed I was curled into a ball on the floor, then ran to my aid. "I knew you were clumsy, but this is ridiculous!"

I rolled my eyes, then looked up at him. "I was tripped."

"By who?" Tom asked. He stared off towards the top of the stairs, noticing the figure awaiting them at the top. With a flick of their catlike tail, the figure stepped down the stairs, and from feet to their head, the figure was revealed.

It was none other than Melody. She looked at us with a glint in the eye, and walked right on out of the store- and, of course- locked us in. Tom and I were shocked.

He helped me stand up, considering the pain I was in. It wasn't like I had broken a bone or anything.. I'm just interdependent.

We weren't sure what to think or do. We.. we were trapped. We were trapped in an empty store with nothing to do, and no one nearby to help us out.


	6. The Dark Melody

**The Dark Melody**

I circled the same counter at least twenty times before I finally slid to the ground from exhaustion. I looked at Tom pathetically.

"I'm not helping you up AGAIN, Syd!" Tom rolled his eyes at me. He looked away and shoved his hands in his pockets. A few seconds later, he looked back at me. "..Fine, I'll help."

He lifted me from the ground again, and with his help I wobbled back onto my feet. I wasn't sure how long we had been trapped in there, but it felt like an eternity.. or at least 3 hours or so. I was sick of this. I was about to scream when I saw a familiar figure standing near the door.

It just happened to be that bunny girl.

"Help! Go get help!" I shouted, flailing frantically. Tom noticed what I was doing and shouted at the bunny girl with me.

She stared at us with that expected bored expression she always had. She pushed the door, and when she noticed that it wasn't opening, she just walked away.

"Aw, no.." This time Tom slid to the ground, placing his hand on his face in distress. "She was probably our only chance." He sat there in silence for a second, then looked back at me. "Now, aren't you going to help ME up?"

"Fat chance," I joked nervously. I waddled towards the glass doors, which were still obviously locked. Instead of walking away in a fit of anger, though, I just stared out the door silently.

"What's going on out there?" Tom sat up by himself, and stepped closer to the door and pressed his ear against the door. "..Dude. Melody's out there givin' some sort of speech."

Though I was puzzled, my curiosity couldn't stop me from also pressing my ear against the door. For a second, I couldn't hear anything, so I continued just looking forward. They were out at the same stage where the elections were held. The same fold-up chairs were out there, and a lot of our villagers were out there, sitting in the audience.

"I can't hear her," Tom complained. He pounded his fists against the door, probably hoping that the glass would break. He placed his finger against his chin and thought quietly, and before I knew it, was tugging the door again. He looked at me, implying that he wanted help again. Oh, duh. Tugging the door open was how we got locked inside in the first place.

As Tom tried his hardest to pry open the door, I helped as much as I could with my puny strength. I couldn't believe that the door managed to open.. and that we sat in that abandoned store for three hours before thinking of this.

Tom nearly flew out the door. "We're free!" he shouted. "Free!" I walked outside and he squeezed me in a I-thought-we-were-goners kind of way. I tried to pry him off, but his grip was too tight. When he finally let go, I reminded him that we needed to find out what Melody was doing.

"Excuse me everyone, but I've called you all here for a very important announcement." Melody's calming voice whispered through the microphone, and we could just barely hear it. We ran towards the stage(well, Tom did while I ran the and sat in the metal fold-up chairs.

"There is really no easy way to say this, but.." Melody paused. Her hands gripped the podium tightly. A lot of confused interjections swarmed through the crowd. Melody suddenly lowered her eyes at the crowd, which brought about more confusion.

"I'd like to say that I'm your leader now." She smirked evilly. "And I'm afraid there's nothing you can do about it."

_What? We were lied to! _Lots of outbursts much like the ones I shouted out were heard through the now flabbergasted crowd. Melody was slowly losing patience.

"And my first order is for you all to SHUT UP!" Melody's now ferocious tone sounded like nails on a chalkboard. Not that it sounded literally like that, but it was a sound that no one in the crowd enjoyed. It was horrifying and unexpected.

"Thank you," she huffed once the audience grew quiet.

"Wait just a darned second!" A purple squirrel with a thunderbolt on his forehead stood up and shouted, obviously not caring about the consequences of doing so. "We have our mayor Tortimer here! No way you can be our leader if he already is!"

"Don't worry about that geezer. He nonviolently agreed to be demoted." Melody glared at the squirrel. "Now you are all dismissed."

Everyone stood up and exchanged scared glances as they stood up and all walked off in a frightened manner. As Tom and I walked off, Melody stopped us.

"I'm not sure how you got out of that store," Melody began, "but, as a warning, you'll wish that you were still there in no time at all."


	7. Fountain of Memories

**Fountain of Memories**

I felt terrible about how we were all tricked into electing Melody.. nay, that I didn't get to say anything about my suspicion. I let myself get tricked by this sinister woman.. and that was something I felt hard to forgive myself for.

I had even heard that she was planning on building a monument in her honor exactly where Town's fountain(or rather, what we had made of it so far) was located. The glorious idea of Town's fountain.. it was only a memory.. a memory I was really looking forward to.

It was a cloudy day the day that Tortimer, our former mayor, had announced the making of the Town fountain. It was the same stage used for the elections that he stood upon, asking a chatty crowd full of Town's residents to settle down and listen. Once he had tapped his cane against the ground, all slowly began to grow silent.

"Thank you.." he weakly announced in his raspy voice through the standing microphone. "Thank you all for your commitment and generous donations for this cause. We know we problem don't NEED this.. but we'll be the talk of the town- or should I say _Town_- for this!" Tortimer snickered at his joke, and had a few(but not many) giggles in the audience.

Tortimer turned around, and with a tug of a rope, the tarp behind him fell to the ground, revealing a diagram of the honorary Town fountain. It was an amazing silver color with a statuette of a Chihuahua princess standing on the top. The diagram itself looked so stunning, we couldn't possibly imagine how beautiful the final product would be.

"Isn't this amazing?" I had looked at Tom, my eyes gleaming with delight. He was still staring at the diagram. I couldn't blame him.. after all, it was gorgeous.

"Who is the Chihuahua?" someone in the audience had stood up and asked. If I remember correctly, it was Allen, the same anteater who had applied for the role of the store owner.

Tortimer slowly turned around and looked at the diagram. "That's Serena," he responded. "Some people say that if you throw an axe into the fountain she'll come to life and give you a golden axe in return." Tortimer nodded his head, agreeing with what he had just said. I cringed at the thought of someone throwing an axe into a fountain.

"Whatever happened to throwing pennies?" Tom whispered, elbowing me. I snorted at the joke, and we exchanged laughs until we realized that Tortimer was waiting for us to finish laughing before he continued to speak, and judging by his displeased frown, he had been waiting a while. We had both immediately stopped laughing.

"Thank you, Mr. Fernando and Ms. Coffey." Tortimer adjusted his round glasses and looked at us straight in the eye. I thought it was more embarrassing that he had called us out by our last names.

After the awkwardness of that moment, Tortimer had continued to explain the fountain. "I plan to start this project as soon as possible, and we'll be getting help from Nook along the way."

"Nook? Like Tom Nook?" Melba looked at me. "He hardly ever does stuff besides working."

"Yes.. that Nook," I reminded her. We almost always called him Nook so we wouldn't get him confused with my best friend, Tom(or as Tortimer would call him, Mr. Fernando.)

"I know we're all excited about Tom Nook helping us out, but he has work to do as well, so it won't be that much." Tortimer noticed the somewhat saddened expressions growing on the audience's faces, so he reassured him by softly singing the town tune in that same raspy voice..

_The town named Town is number one! A nice place that's full of fun!_

Melba was the first to stand up and start singing. Though the tune was cheesy, I'll admit, I ended up singing. Tom and I stood up and sung along, and the tempo of the tune began to increase. Everyone started to stand up and sing along, and the entire town was in song.

Once the sing-along was over, Tortimer just smiled. He looked proud of this town, and proud to be mayor of it. All he said afterward was "Thank you." Though it was just a simple 'thank you', it was one that would warm your heart. For some reason, it was a good feeling that he was so proud of us. Life was good.

So.. did I mention this had all happened just a week before Nook had died? No? Well, obviously I must have forgotten that part.

Nook had started out helping us with the materials, and we had managed to get a little bit of it done. We had only made the bottom part of the fountain, which was nowhere near finishing the entire thing.. but we were pleased with it. Nook told us he'd help with making the rest of it the following day.

And guess what happened? Oh, wait a second, I already told you. He DIED. So let's go back a little less further to.. oh.. When Melody was about to tear Town's incomplete, yet signature fountain.

I looked at Melody, unsure of what she was doing at first. Once I saw the sledgehammer in her paws(where did she even get a sledgehammer?), it hit me.. like a sledgehammer.

"Put that down!" I shouted. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Is it not obvious enough?" Melody sneered. "I'm tearing this stupid mound down. It'll look much better as a statue of _moi _than some ugly.. whatever this is." Within moments, Tom and Melba had arrived at the scene, not sure what was going on.

"That 'stupid mound' is only the Town fountain! I won't let you destroy it!" I raised my fist, which Melba lowered with her paw.

Melody looked at me with the most vile smirk I could imagine. "If I recall, ever since that lousy raccoon bit the dust, none of you have been working on this thing. Why shouldn't I smash it to pieces?"

I couldn't argue with that fact, but I knew Melody was trying to guilt me into giving in. Of course it wasn't a bad thing to focus on Nook, but that fountain was like a memory of him. It was like a memory where you could almost see Nook directing us on what piece went where, and hear his caring laugh when Joey Salve tripped and fell into the fountain. While I was reminiscing, I realized Melody has already raised her hammer in the air.

I shot her a menacing glare that said _Try it, and see what happens. I dare you. _Shortly I noticed that my threat wasn't menacing enough, as Melody took that dare.

_**WHAM! SMASH!**_

"_YOU DIRTY ROTTEN BRAT!" _I charged forward, but Tom had a strong grip on my arm. He gave me a look that told me to let it go, but I continued to call out insults that obviously meant nothing to Melody, as she continuously slammed the sledgehammer into what we had of the fountain until it was no more than a clump of clay.

"Well! That takes care of that. Better work on those spreadsheets for _my_ monument!" Melody brushed her hands together, as to get rid of invisible dust on her hands. She tossed the sledgehammer on top of what was left of our fountain, and walked away. I was absolutely appalled that she couldn't care less about what she had done.

That's when I couldn't hold it back any longer. I shrieked and began to cry as Tom and Melba both hugged me tight. That fountain was not only a memory of what our town once was.. it was a memory of Nook.

And all it took was an evil wench with a sledgehammer to take that all away.


	8. Rainy Days

**Rainy Days**

"What are you doing?" Melody asked, obviously disappointed in me.

I stood near the pedestal of Melody's 'monument', just staring at the spreadsheets in my paws. Even though Melody had called my name, I was silent. Not because I didn't hear her.. because I felt I had no reason to talk to her.

"I said, _what are you doing?!_"

"Trying to figure out these stupid spreadsheets." I looked at Melody with a menacing glare that she could be scared less of.

Melody took the spreadsheets out of my paws and examined them. Her eyes slowly darted from detail to detail. "I had this explained right down to the punctuation marks. What in the world do you still need to figure out?"

I extended my paw, referring to Melody to give back the spreadsheets, which she did(while sticking out her tongue in disgust.) I examined the spreadsheets again. Now that she had mentioned it, which I hated to admit, she was right. She had almost everything explained. I found that both convenient and a bit pompous at the same time.

"I guess I just have a lot on my mind," I answered after a few seconds of silence. She, in return, gave me a face that said _You're not an idiot. You figure it out. _And with that, Melody was well on her way to a different direction. I shook my head and fought the urge to crumple the spreadsheets. That's when I felt a drip on the back of my shoulder.

Melody noticed this and stuck out her paw to the air, watching dolefully as it collected drops of rain. Considering that scowls and knitted brows were all I had seen her express within a while, seeing that white cat acting anything but unimpressed with Town was a surprise.

"Melody, is everything alright?" I asked, shocked at the concern I seemed to have unconsciously expressed.

The solemn look on Melody's face disappeared the moment I opened my mouth. "Of course, stupid!" Melody chastised me with her trademark glare and continued forward. A few steps later, she stopped and stood in place, her voice turning from strained to sadly relaxed. With a bit of hesitation, she spoke once again. "Anyway, you can go home. Can't expect you to get any work done in the rain."

I managed to get a brief view of her face, this time it looked as if the cat was on the brink of tears. She must've shook it off, because after her pause she walked off as if nothing bothered her. I didn't realize it then, but Melody was reciting something that was said to her a while before that day. I'm not at that point of the story, though, so let's save that for later, shall we?

About this time, I also came to realize I did not have an umbrella handy. Luckily, I had thought to bring my small gray handbag to put even smaller tools in. I folded the spreadsheets into a tiny square and stuffed it into my handbag before they could get any wetter. I, on the other hand, was already soaked with rain by then.

However, I seemed to have had a strange concern for Melody that overcame my concern for my dryness. _Why did she look so sad? _I thought. It probably wasn't any of my business, but I felt the need to know anyway.

That's when a sudden shield came from above me that prevented anymore aerial attacks from the rain. "Tom?" I asked, expecting to see him as I turned to face the supplier of this shield. To my surprise, it certainly was _not _Tom.

It was that same bunny girl at the scene of Nook's death. The same one who left Tom and I locked in Nookington's. The same one who had always coincidentally been there.

"Who are you?" I asked under my breath after a moment of hesitation. "Who the heck are you?"

The bunny stayed silent. The pouring rain pelted harder against the umbrella as she stared at me without the slightest bit of surprise. "...ry," was all I had her say at the time.

"Ree?" I asked. "What kind of name is-"

"You should get home," she said in a quiet, monotonous voice. "This weather could easily take a turn for the worse."

"Well, thanks Ree," I said, unaware that _Ree _wasn't actually the rabbit's name. There was so much on my mind that I didn't consider that Ree was willing to walk me home under the umbrella. Even if I did, I would have led her around in circles because of my bad sense of direction. Not that I wanted to or anything...

I finally broke the silence after noticing I had completely ignored whatever it was Ree had said next at the time. "Well, Ree, I guess this is goodbye." I stepped away from the dry protection of Ree's umbrella and into the rain, letting my fur get soaked all over again. I walked slowly until I was at a distance where Ree wouldn't get splashed, then took off running.

I wasn't sure where I was going at that point. Ree's words proved to be true, as lightning crashed not too far away. If anything, I decided to barge in wherever I ended up going. Of course it wasn't a polite gesture... but aside from the thunder on the night Nook died, the weather here was usually calmer than this. I ran in the direction of a familiar house made of brick.

"Tom!" I shouted in advance as I arrived at his door. "Tom, it's Syd," I said after discovering the door was locked. After knocking on the door for well over thirty seconds, worry began to take over. "Tom, are you there? _Tom!_" What on earth was he doing not in his house, I'll never know, but he could have been anywhere. I knew Mabel was at home fine, but an uneasiness came over me upon realizing the cold I would probably catch wading around in this weather any longer.

I turned around and began my search, calling out for him as I ventured through Town, my search growing progressively frantic when the silent responses. Most of the villagers were already in the comfort of their homes, and the ones that were not passed by with their umbrellas, giving me an odd look as I ran blindly for my friend. During my search, Mabel called me on my phone.

"Mabel, stay home, okay?" I said in lieu of a simple hello, unaware I would be bombarded in questions.

"Sis! Your throat is hoarse, what's wrong? Why aren't you home? Do you need me to come get you?"

"Slow down, _mom_," I responded, even though my unneeded quip fell flat. "I'll be home soon, Mabel. I'm looking for Tom, I've been calling out for him to no avail... Like I said, stay home. I don't want you getting a cold too."

"...You didn't see the weather report?" Mabel asked in disbelief. You didn't bring an UMBRELLA?"

"Twisting the knife, Mabel..."

"Sorry," Mabel squeaked. "When you find him, let him stay over here. You two don't need to be out here longer than you already are."

It was amazing how mature my younger sister could be given the situation. Nonetheless, we didn't talk much longer before I hung up my phone to continue my search. "Tooommmm?"

_"SYD!"_

A voice I knew all too well echoed through the trees. Even if I didn't have such a good sense of direction, I knew that Tom was somewhere over there. It didn't take me long to find him hiding conveniently by a peach tree. He was curled into a ball, hiding The poor thing, he had never noticed me approach him until I pat him on the head.

"...Hi, Syd," the drenched cat said sheepishly as he looked up at me. His eyes were wide as they met mine. "So I guess I never told you I had a little phobia, did I?"

"Hi, Tom," I said as I helped him stand up. "No, Tom, you didn't. I was worried sick."

"Sorry. I'll be okay." His left paw had a strong grip on my shoulder as he stood up. I could feel him shaking, be it from how cold we both were from the weather or from how terrified he must have been. "I should've checked the weather report, but we usually don't have weather like this-"

"You should've told me, Tom," I interrupted, overcome with guilt. "I can't believe you were out here. If I knew, I'd... I don't know what I'd do. It's not like I could lead you back home. I wish I were a better friend, I..."

"Calm down!" Tom attempted to reassure me. "It's not your fault. I should've told you, I just... ah... I didn't want you to laugh at me."

"Fears are no laughing matter," I responded solemnly, unaware I was shooting down every last attempt Tom made to lighten the mood. "Mabel called, by the way. She said for me to walk you to our house."

"_YOU_ lead the way?" Tom asked, his mood noticeably changing for the better even as he shook. "I think I better lead the way." Unable to verbally respond to that joke, I instead wrapped my arm behind his back to support him as we walked in the rain, since walking a shaken Tom was like carrying an anvil.

"Hey, Syd?" he asked weakly.

"Yes, Tom?"

"Thanks."


End file.
